This pair of preparatory drawings, brushed in ink and roughly coloured, relates to Toyohara Kunichika’s woodblock print triptych Imamurasaki and Shōshō Dancing a Modern Version of the Otokomai at the House of Kinpeirō in the New Yoshiwara. The drawings document an intermediate stage in the design process for the finished print.

The design depicts the courtesans Imamurasaki and Shōshō, dressed as shirabyōshi (female dancers who performed in men’s court attire) executing a contemporary interpretation of the otoko mai (literally “male dance”) at the Kinpeirō (House of the Golden Vase), a brothel in the New Yoshiwara pleasure district of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Such performances blended classical references with modern theatrical conventions that appealed to the urban audiences familiar with both courtly and popular culture.

The sheets provide evidence of Kunichika’s revision process: compositional errors were corrected by cutting into the paper and pasting additional sheets from the reverse, followed by redrawing. Evidence of this process can be seen on the left figure’s face and the rim of her hat, where adjustments are clearly visible.

The leftmost panel of the original triptych is now missing. Based on the completed woodblock print, this panel would have shown a young kamuro dressed as a butterfly playing a drum, accompanied by a row of female singers and musicians positioned behind her. A partial figure of one such musician and her shamisen appears at the upper left corner of the surviving drawing.

You can view the complete triptych in our collection here: Accession no. 2026.001